Final Final Prop 30 Op Ed

Jessica Zacarias

English 2, Knapp

October 14, 2012

Invest in Our Schools, Invest in Our Future

The foundation of California and our future is the education of its youth. Nearly everything human beings have accomplished as a society has been founded and supported by a solid and growing education. Therefore, if we want to continue moving forward as a society, we need to invest in our future, invest in our schools and not cut back on the potential of thousands of growing minds. Billions of dollars have been cut from the schooling system resulting in less teachers, bigger class sizes, less days of school, higher tuition rates and lower acceptance rates among many other losses. That’s why proposition 30 on the ballot this November is just what we need to start solving this crisis. It is essential that we stop this downward spiral and that we vote yes on Proposition 30.

Proposition 30 would place a temporary increase on income and sales tax. The top 1% of our population, people making $250,000 dollars or more will be charged an additional 1-3% on income tax depending on how much they earn per year for the next 7 years. The rest of us, the 99% of us will be charged one fourth of a cent more on sales tax for the next 4 years. That is 1 cent for every 4 dollars you spend, or 5 dollars for every 2,000 dollars you spend. 89% of the revenue would to K-12 schools and 11% would go to community colleges. Something not many people know is that it not only supports education but it also helps and supports rehab facilities and depopulation in prison as well as public safety and social services.

Now you tell me, who has more authority to decide and demand more money for California’s education system? Is it rich old men campaigning against this cause, who went to school in a time that going to UC Berkeley cost $700 a year, or is it students currently going to school and currently feeling the devastating budget crisis as more and more money is cut from education. Today, UC Berkeley has a 2,000 percent increase on their tuition. The same has happened with all schools across California as tuition continues to rise 4-10% a year.

Being a Cabrillo College student myself, I can directly feel the already excessive budget cuts to the school. It is almost incomprehensible to really understand the impact it would have on us students if even more money and teachers get cut from the school’s resources. Cabrillo has cut so many classes in recent years that in order to go to the school that I want to go to, I’m going to have to drive to a different Community College, about one hour away, two times a week to fulfill a required course for my major. By cutting essential and important classes, students have to stay at Community College for longer because all the classes are impacted and hard to get into. Not only are there less classes and teachers, there is an increasing amount of kids that need to get into community college classes because they are unable to afford a 4 year college right out of high school. It is detrimental to students and their family’s financial situation if getting your general education requirements completed means spending more and more time, money and semesters trying to get into classes.

If proposition 30 does not pass, Trigger Cuts will take place on January 1^st 2013. Trigger cuts are the states way of reducing California’s spending. These cuts will eliminate 5.5 billion dollars going to schools, which will result in 3 less weeks of school for K-12 children. It would cut $250 million from all CSU’s. That would mean more layoffs, fewer classes and an even higher tuition cost for students. Just at Cabrillo alone I have felt the effects of the 95 staff jobs cut, 400 classes cut and the 88.5% increase on price per unit.

 Some people have different views on this proposition. On stopprop30.com they state “California cannot afford to lose more jobs or to further damage our economic recovery. Now is not the time for tax increases which will only harm California families and small businesses.” However this statement ignores the fact that funding schools will actually lead to more jobs for teachers and all other administrative departments in the system. Since more students will get to go to school it will provide more capable citizens with new and improved ideas. With education they will be able to fill needed and crucial jobs to keep our society moving forward as well as create their own small and large businesses.

 People also complain that if Proposition 30 passes, the tax increase on the poor would not be fair. However, what really isn’t fair is if Proposition 30 does not pass and parents who are already struggling with money have to seek out and pay for 3 extra weeks of childcare. A tax increase of .25% will be nothing to complain about compared to the downfalls if proposition 30 is not passed. Compare one cent for every four dollars for a temporary amount of time to having to pay higher tuition for more semesters, and poorer quality education. It is not a hard decision to make.

We can all agree that the education system in California has been going downhill. Finally a solution is within reach. Lets think and act progressively for a prosperous future for all of us. Proposition 30 is that solution. Just adding ¼ of a cent to our sales tax for a limited amount of time could mean the difference between thousands of students not being able to go to school or get into classes or getting a solid education and continuing to getting vital and constructive jobs that could help and effect everybody’s future. You make the choice.  Our system needs to evolve with time, not disintegrate.  Help save our future by voting yes on Proposition 30.

Final Draft, Prop 30

Jessica Zacarias

English 2, Knapp

October 14, 2012

The foundation of California and our future is the education of its youth. Nearly everything human beings have accomplished as a society has been founded and supported by a solid and growing education. Therefore, if we want to continue moving forward as a society, we need to invest in our future, invest in our schools and not cut back on the potential of thousands of growing minds. Billions of dollars have been cut from the schooling system resulting in less teachers, bigger class sizes, less days of school, higher tuition rates and lower acceptance rates among many other losses. That’s why proposition 30 on the ballad this November is just what we need to start solving this crisis. It is essential that we stop this downward spiral that our educational system is going through and it is essential that we vote yes on Proposition 30.

Proposition 30 would place a temporary increase on income and sales tax. The top 1% of our population, people making $250,000 dollars or more will be charged an additional 1-3% on tax depending on how much they earn per year for the next 7 years. The rest of us, the 99% of us will be charged one fourth of a cent more on sales tax for the next 4 years. That is 1 cent for every 4 dollars you spend, or 5 dollars for every 2,000 dollars you spend. 89% of the revenue would to K-12 schools and 11% would go to community colleges. Something not many people know is that it not only supports education but it also helps and supports rehab facilities and depopulation in prison as well as public safety and social services.

Now you tell me, who has more authority to decide and demand more money for California’s education system? Is it rich old men campaigning against this cause, who went to school in a time that going to UC Berkeley cost $700 a year, or is it students currently going to school and currently feeling the devastating budget crisis as more and more money is cut from education. Today, UC Berkeley has a 2,000 percent increase on their tuition. The same has happened with all schools across California as tuition continues to rise 4-10% a year.

Being a Cabrillo College student myself, I can directly feel the already excessive budget cuts to the school. It is almost incomprehensible to really understand the impact it would have on us students if even more money and teachers get cut from the school’s resources. Cabrillo has cut so many classes in recent years that in order to go to the school that I want to go to, I’m going to have to drive to a different Community College, about one hour away, two times a week to fulfill a required course for my major. By cutting essential and important classes, students have to stay at Cabrillo for longer because all the classes are impacted and hard to get into. Not only are there less classes and teachers, there is an increasing amount of kids that need to get into community college classes because they are unable to afford a 4 year college right out of high school. It is detrimental to students and their family’s financial situation if getting your general education requirements completed means spending more and more time, money and semesters trying to get into classes.

If proposition 30 does not pass, Trigger Cuts will take place on January 1^st 2013. Trigger cuts are the states way of reducing California’s spending. These cuts will eliminate 5.5 billion dollars going to schools, which will result in 3 less weeks of school for K-12 children. It would cut $250 Million from all CSU’s. That would mean more layoffs, fewer classes and an even higher tuition cost for students. Just at Cabrillo alone I have felt the effects of the 95 staff jobs cut, 400 classes cut and the 88.5% increase on price per unit.

 Some people have different views on this proposition. On stopprop30.com they state “California cannot afford to lose more jobs or to further damage our economic recovery. Now is not the time for tax increases which will only harm California families and small businesses.” However this statement ignores the fact that funding schools will actually lead to more jobs for teachers and all other administrative departments in the system. Since more students will get to go to school it will provide more capable citizens with new and improved ideas. With education they will be able to fill needed and crucial jobs to keep our society moving forward as well as create their own small and large businesses.

 People also complain that if Proposition 30 passes, the tax increase on the poor would not be fair. However, what really isn’t fair is if Proposition 30 does not pass and parents who are already struggling with money have to seek out and pay for 3 extra weeks of childcare. A tax increase of .25% will be nothing to complain about compared to the downfalls if proposition 30 is not passed. Compare one cent for every four dollars for a temporary amount of time to having to pay higher tuition for more semesters, and poorer quality education. It is not a hard decision to make.

We can all agree that the education system in California has been going downhill. Finally a solution is within reach. Lets think and act progressively for a prosperous future for the all of us. Proposition 30 is that solution. Just adding ¼ of a cent to our sales tax for a limited amount of time could mean the difference between thousands of students not being able to go to school or get into classes or getting a solid education and continuing to getting vital and constructive jobs that could help and effect everybody’s future. You make the choice.  Our system needs to evolve with time, not disintegrate.  Help save our future by voting yes on Proposition 30.

Prop 30 Rough Draft

The foundation of California is the education of its youth. Nearly everything we have accomplished as a society has been supported by a solid education. Therefore, if we want to continue growing as state, we need to invest in our future, invest in the children of tomorrow and not cut back on the potential of thousands of growing minds. Billions of dollars have been cut from the schooling system resulting in less teachers, bigger class sizes, less days of school, higher tuition rates and lower acceptance rates among many other losses. Just at Cabrillo alone I have felt the effects of the 95 staff jobs cut, 400 classes cut and the 88.5% increase on price per unit. It is essential that we stop this downward spiral on our educational system and it is essential that we vote yes on Proposition 30.

Proposition 30 would place a temporary increase on income and sales tax. The top 1% of our population so people making 250,000 dollars or more will be charged an additional 1-3% on tax depending on how much they make for the next 7 years. The rest of the 99% of us will be charged one fourth of a cent more on tax for the next 4 years. That is 1 cent for every 4 dollars you spend, Or 5 dollars for every 2,000 dollars you spend. 89% of the revenue would to K-12 schools and 11% would go to community colleges. It also supports, education, rehab facilities and depopulation in prison as well as public safety.

If proposition 30 does not pass, Trigger Cuts will take place on January 1^st 2013. These trigger cuts will eliminate 5.5 billion dollars going to schools, which will result in 3 less weeks of school for K-12 children. It would cut 250 Million from CSU’s, which would mean more layoffs, fewer classes and an even higher tuition. For Cabrillo students this Proposition means the difference between being able to get into the classes you need and being able to transfer to a 4-year University sooner rather than later.

Being a Cabrillo College student myself, I can directly feel the already excessive budget cuts to the school. It is almost incomprehensible to really understand the effects if even more money and teachers get cut from the school’s resources. Cabrillo has cut so many classes in the recent years that in order to go to the school that I want to go to, I’m going to have to drive to a different Community College about one hour away two times a week to fulfill a required course for my major. By cutting classes, students have to stay at Cabrillo for longer because all the classes are impacted and hard to get into. Not only are there less classes and teachers, there is an increasing amount of kids that need to get into community college classes because they are unable to afford a 4 year college. It is detrimental to students and their family’s financial situation if getting your general education requirements finished means spending more and more semesters trying to get into classes and more and more time and money waiting to get in.

 Some people have different views on this proposition. On stopprop30.com they state “California cannot afford to lose more jobs or to further damage our economic recovery. Now is not the time for tax increases which will only harm California families and small businesses.” However this statement is completely false, funding schools will lead to MORE jobs for teachers and all other administrative departments.  And since more students will get to go to school it will provide more capable citizens with improved ideas and jobs to go with them in the long run. People also complain the tax increase on the poor isn’t fair. However what really isn’t fair are parents who are struggling with money having to seek out and pay for 3 extra weeks of childcare if even more money is cut from schools. A tax increase of .25% will be nothing compared to the downfalls if proposition 30 is not passed.

We can all agree that the education system in California has been going downhill. Finally a solution is within reach. Our system needs to evolve with time, not disintegrate. Lets think and act progressively for a prosperous future for the all of us. Help save our future by voting yes on Proposition 30.

Proposal

 Title:

Author: Jessica Zacarias

Date: 9/30/2012

Topic: Persuasive argument for Proposition 30

Exigence: Every Californian resident’s future is compromised if we can’t get more money into our schooling system.

Intended Audience: All voters. People for prop 30, people against prop 30, uniformed people on the subject, students at Cabrillo, People concerned about the California School system.

Purpose: To convince voters to vote yes on Prop 30 and to inform the public about very real and dramatic circumstances if it does not pass.

Claim: It is essential that Proposition 30 passes for the benefit of not only the students but for the public and our next generation. If we are moving forward in time, our school system should be EVOLVING not getting worse.

Writer’s Strategy one: Logos

The logos I will use for my paper are all the statistics and figures that I have come across. It will help to not only use the statistics evaluating all of California, but the ones that directly affect Cabrillo Students. A couple examples of this are that if Prop 30 does not pass, 780 full time students wont have a spot in a classroom. Or that if it does pass, more teachers will be employed which would not only benefit the kids of the future but help the economy as well. This is also where I will use my counter point. On stopprop30.com they state “California cannot afford to lose more jobs or to further damage our economic recovery. Now is not the time for tax increases which will only harm California families and small businesses.” However this statement is completely false, funding schools will lead to MORE jobs for teachers and all other administrative departments.  And since more students will get to go to school it will provide more capable citizens with better ideas and jobs to go with them in the long run.

Reader Effect one:

This evidence will persuade readers because after hearing multiple verifiable and disastrous outcomes if the proposition doesn’t pass and hearing the multiple benefits for all California residents if it does pass, it would practically be idiotic to vote no on it. By using one of their “strongest” reasons to vote no on Prop 30, and proving that reason wrong will show the reader that as a writer and persuader, I am not only not naïve to the oppositions point of view, but I can prove it wrong.

Writer’s Strategy two: Ethos

I’ll be credible for speaking about this topic because I myself am currently in a Community College (which has reaped the financial cuts)and am transferring to a CSU or Uc Next Fall. Being in the system and literally feeling the effects the excessive budget cuts makes me qualified to know how the system can improve. Having a Dad who went to UCSC, and a Brother who went to Cabrillo and transferred to UCSC talk about how much easier/ cheaper it used to be only motivates me to fight harder because I know what the schooling system used to be and what it could be with some help. It should be evolving with time, not disintegrating. 

Readers Effect two:

How is it that old politicians who clearly don’t understand the distress that the younger generation is going through have any qualifications to say, “ No, money should not go to schools.” Because I am the “younger generation” I am qualified to talk and argue for proposition 30 because it is directly affecting me and many of those around me.

Writer’s Strategy three: Pathos

To Evoke emotion I will bring a personal story into the mix. Cabrillo has cut so many classes that in order to go to the school that I want to go to, I’m going to have to drive to a different Community College about one hour away two times a week to fulfill a required course for my major. By cutting classes, students have to stay at Cabrillo for longer because all the classes are impacted and hard to get into. Not only are there less classes and teachers, there is an increasing amount of kids that need to get into the classes. It is detrimental to students and their family’s financial situation if getting your general education requirements done means spending more and mores semesters trying to get into classes and more and more time and money waiting to get in.

            Readers Effect three:

Emotion is something that every single person can relate to, no matter what side you are on. Pathos can really wrap everything together by demonstrating real-life examples of how these cuts are affecting literally every individual student.

Annotated Bibliography #1

Brown, Crystal. "Vote Twice for Education Over Politics." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Sept. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crystal-brown/vote-twice-for-education-over-politics_b_1774101.html>.

In this article Crystal Brown talks about how people have initiated a “false competition” between the Proposition 30 and Proposition 38.  As Brown states it, “Proposition 30 provides approximately $8 billion, much of which is restitution funding for K-12 education, public colleges, and universities and new funds for pubic safety. Proposition 38 could provide $10 billion per year in new funding for K-12 education and preschool, including funds to offset some education funding losses triggered by the potential failure of Prop 30.” People look at these two propositions and look at the pros and cons of each of them. However, what they need to do is put their focus on the ultimate goal, which is to improve California’s educational system. If you vote yes on one of the propositions and no on another, it could divide the vote and make it so neither of the propositions are able to win. If the vote is divided then neither proposition will win. The Huffington Post is a pretty reliable source and Crystal Brown is the Board President and co-founder of Educate Our State.

Freeman, Bill. "News." U-T San Diego. U-T San Diego News, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/23/tp-prop-30-invests-in-education-economy/>.

Bill Freeman describes a lot of the statistics about the budget cuts to the schooling system in California in the recent years. California ranks 48^th in teacher to student ratio, 50^th in librarians, counselors and nurse to student ratio and is 47^th in per pupil spending when we used to be in the top 10 states. Class sizes have increased and the numbers of school days have dropped and are continuing to drop. It is the only measure on the board that stops the devastating cuts and avoids some of the tuition raises. If this measure does not pass, schools will suffer even more cuts, which will result in less teachers, counselors, nurses and administration. Bill Freeman is a credible source because he is the president of a 7,000 member San Diego Education Association, He is a third grade teacher and was San Diego City teacher of the year in 2009-2010. Although he does have credibility he seems to have one of his facts wrong. Freeman says that “Under Prop. 30, families making below $500,000 a year will pay no additional income taxes.” when in fact it is family’s making $250,000 and below wont pay any addition income taxes. This mistake makes me question how correct his other statistics are.

 

 "Who's Funding Prop 30, Jerry Brown's Temporary Tax for Education and Guaranteed Public Safety Funding? | Propositions | Elections 2012 | KCET." KCET. KCET, 20 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. <http://www.kcet.org/news/ballotbrief/elections2012/propositions/database-whos-funding-prop-30-temporary-tax-to-fund-education.html>.

The Website KCET looks at all the funding behind Proposition 30. It was informative and interesting to see what corporate companies are supporting education and what people are against it. The Coca Cola Company donated over half a million dollars to this cause. The amount of money donated to Proposition 30 is considerably higher that the money running against it. The website seems credible partly because it is a dot org, however I cannot find an author or much more information about how the website got the figures that they have.

RR #1

In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, he argues that schooling the way it is today is not progressive. It is based upon the military state of Prussia, which as Gatoo states is “ An educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills. And to ensure docile and incomplete citizens- all in order to render the populace ‘manageable’.” He Brings in Alexander Inglis’s idea of the six “actual purposes” of modern schooling: “Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority… make children as alike as possible…to determine each students proper social role… to be sorted by role and trained only so far as their destination in the social machine merits… meant to tag the unfit… and a fractions of the kids will quietly be taught to hot manage this continuing project.” Based on these two ideas is why Gatto believes that school is keeping kids immature and dumbed down. He doesn’t believe in schooling, but he believes in being actually educated by challenging kids’ with “‘grown up material’ such as history, literature, philosophy music, art, economics, theology and solitude.” He points out that extremely successful people in American history did not go through our modern schooling therefore proving that it is not necessarily the right and only way to educate children.

To a certain extent, I do have to agree with Gatto that we don’t really need to go to school. I like the idea of parents or whomever it may be having the time and resources to challenge their kids with “grown up material”. However, I don’t know how realistic that really is. How is a parent supposed to encourage children to not be bored while encouraging solitude at the same time?  Now days especially with all the social media, texting and advancing technology, kids are adapting the way they live their lives. Realistically, if a child has a choice between going and hanging out with their friends or do what their parents encourage them to do: to study “grown up” dense literature and theology, what do you think they’re going to pick?

 While Gatto seems to have a lot of ethos and a very credible source (having been a teacher for decades) he throws a lot of over-generalized claims about kids and the school system. Saying things like “Mandatory educations’ real purpose is to turn them [kids] into servants” and “we have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgments and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishments that would insult actual adults” and putting down society by saying “ it is in the interest of complex management to dumb people down, to demoralize them, to divide them from one another and to discard them if they don’t conform” can make people lose some respect for him. Having such cynical and pessimistic things to say about our generation and our society does not make me want to listen to what he has to say. While a lot of what he says does have some truth in it, his overbearing, sullen and dark way of approaching the matter brings down his ethos.

Week One, Prop 30

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/crystal-brown/vote-twice-for-education-over-politics_b_1774101.html

1)             I think “Para Teresa” was written in both English and Spanish for a coupe of reasons. First of, the speaker shows the reader a little bit of background about herself just by the simple fact that she is speaking some Spanish. We as readers can tell that she is multi cultural. The number Two seems to play a big role in this poem. There are two languages. There are two cultures. There are two girls getting in a fight. And there are two different ways of showing independence and revolting for their “raza”. Teresa’s way was by defying authority while the speakers’ way was by proving herself to be better for herself and for her family. The role of the combination of Spanish and English in this poem helps bind all the “two’s” and make it one. It symbolizes the mixture of the two cultures together as one in the United States (what both Teresa and the speaker are fighting for), all in one poem.

6)            I Felt really ignorant when you mentioned prop 30 and I had no idea what it had to do with. After researching it a bit, I've reminded myself how important it is to keep myself informed with all the debates and politics that go on (especially this time of year) because it directly affects my life and those around me too.

The article I read was about how people have initiated a “false competition” between the two bills that could potentially put a lot more money towards education in California.  As Brown states it, “Proposition 30 provides approximately $8 billion, much of which is restitution funding for K-12 education, public colleges, and universities and new funds for pubic safety. Proposition 38 could provide $10 billion per year in new funding for K-12 education and preschool, including funds to offset some education funding losses triggered by the potential failure of Prop 30.”

People are look at these two propositions and look at the pros and cons of each of them. However, what they need to do is put their focus on the ultimate goal, which is to improve California’s educational system. If you vote yes on one of the propositions and no on another, it could divide the vote and make it so neither of the propositions are able to win. “This false "competition" may, in fact, lead to a far more dire outcome than divided attention: a divided vote, which could lead to the failure of both measures” (Brown 1).

So what needs to be done is to set aside the strengths and weaknesses of the two propositions and vote yes on both of them. That way the chances of one winning are way higher.